Improvement in harvester-rakes



JOHN M.

HANDLE, OF BRIGHTON, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTER-RAKES.

Spccilication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 50,388, dated October10, 1865.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that 1', JOHN M. HANDLE, of Brighton, in the county ofMacoupin and State ot' Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Self-Raker for Reaping- Machines; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference markedthereon, and made to form part of this specification.

Of the annexed drawings, Figure lis aplan ot' the improvedrakeattachmcnt fitted to an ordinary reaper, the rakes in said viewbeing shown in two positions, designatedas No.1 and No. 2. Fig. 2 of thedrawings represents a frontl elevation ot' the improvements in which therakes are also shown in two positions, and which are designated as No.2and No.3. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of the machine, takenon the line M N in Fig. l.

The nature ot' this invention consists in so arranging the rake thatsweeps the cut grain from the platform upon which it is thrown afterleaving the cutters that the ends ofthe raketeeth will, while passingover said platform, describe a straight line parallel to the platform,the machinery for operating the rakes being simply a crank and pitman inconnection with a turn-table, all pinions and cog-wheels being dispensedwith.

'Io enable those skilled in the art to make and use my self-rake, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the frame whichsupports the driving-wheel B, and to whichItht platform G is attached. l,

Motion is transmitted to the rakes through the medium .of the crank D,which is secured to the inner end of the shaft B ofthe wheel B.

Upon the frame A is erected the iron frame E, which should be formed oftwo braces, and which will serve to support the upp'er end of the craneor derrick G, which is used for the manipulation ot' the rakes H I, thelower end of said derrick being erected upon the iron arm F, which isbolted to the inner side of the frame A. i

The derriek G is formed of several pieces, as follows, viz: Thesill-piece a rests on the Iron arm F, andthe lower end of the post bpasses through the inner end of the sill and forms a journal, whichenters asuitablejournalbox formed in' the iron arm F. The upper endofthe post b also terminates in a journal, which has its bearing in theiron frame E. On the outer end of the sill there is erected the post b',the upper end of which is curved outward to receive the curved rake-rodH, and this post is connected with the post b by means of the curvedbrace b. The whole derrick thus constructed is made to swing backwardand forward around the pivot-point, which is the vertical axis of thepost b, the limit given to such motion being embraced within an angle ofabout ninety degrees, more or less. The derrick is made to perform onejourney backward and forward at each revolution of the wheel B by beingconnected with the crank D by means of the connecting-rod c and pitn'lanc. The back end of the pitrnan has a slot which embraces the pin c, sothat at every revolution ofthe crank D the pitman willslde backward andforward on the pin e. The connecting-rod cis coupled with the pitman atthe ring d, and with the sill a at d. When the crank D is thrown forwardto its horizontal center it will ot' course cause the pitman and.

connecting-rodto follow it, and these in turn will push the derrick withits rakes forward until they will assume the position indicated in thedrawings, as No. 2 in Fig. l.. When the crank D arrives at itshorizontal rear center it will have moved the derrick back to theposition indicated as No. l in Fig. 1.

, The wrist of the crank D is not confined to a fixed position in itsbearing iu the pitman c', but is permitted to work back and forth forlabout one-eighth of its revolution in a slot in the end of the saidpitman, the detail of which is shown in Fig. 3. The object of thisarrangement is to cause the derrick to remain stationary during the timethat the rake H is sweeping the grain from the platform, and then when.the wrist of the crank suddenly strikes the end. of the slot it willcanse the derrick to swing suddenly hack into the position it is toassume at the moment of depositing the grain upon the eld.

The bent lever J is pivoted to the post b at the fulcrum w, and theouter end of it is hinged to the strap f on the upper end of the rakerodH', while the other end of it passes a few inches behind the post b,against which it rests, and then terminates in an open-forked end,j,which embraces the pin t', and by which it is moved up or down, as maybe required, as hereinafter described. The piu t' is secured to thelower end of the sliding head i', which works up and down on thc post b.A groove around the head i receives the ring a, which is fastened to thelower end of the sliding guide a', the upper end ot which passes throughthe upper part ofthe frame E. The pitman m connects the sliding guide awith the crank D, and thereby transmits a vertical motion to the headi', the eiiect of which is to alternately raise and lower the forked endot' the lever J, which, being about one-third of the length of the otherend of said lever, will give a correspondingly increased vertical motionto the upper end of the lever J at the point where it is joined to thestrapf.

The rake H, which sweeps the cut grain from the platform, is operated bythe ralte-rod II, which is firmly fastened to the curved rod H, whichworks up and down through a mortise in the upper end ofthe curved postb.

The rake I is fastened to the lever J near its pivot aud consequentlyhas but a small uiotion laterally. The whole of the parts are united insuch a manner that the pin 'i will begin its vertical descent the momentthe rake H squarely covers the platform, as indicated by position No. 2in Figs. l and 2. As soon as the pin z' forces the short end of thelever down the other end will raise up the upper end Vof the rake-rod Handthe curved rod H" will Slide up through the inortise in the end ot'the post b', the etfect of which arrangement will be to give a combinedmotion to the rake, one of which will be to draw it toward the derrickside ot' the platform and the other will be to raise the rake and itsrods up so that the ends of the rake-teeth will move across the platformin a straight line and not a curved one, as is the usual manner. Therake will consequently sweep the platform clean at every revolution,although thelatter may be perfectly straight and cvel. The rake I, beingfastened to the lever J near the fulcrum x, will at every revolution ofthe machine be thrown a short distance out toward the platform to lneetthe rake H as it approaches from the other side, and the two will. graspthe grain between them as they arrive at that point indicated as No. 3

As soon as the rakes arrive at the I in Fig. 2. last-indicated positionthe connecting-rod c will pull the derrick back, s6 that the ralres willswing clear of the platform, where they can deposittheir burden. rlhenext motion ot the machine will cause the rake to open by the meansalready described, and the rake I-I will immediately reassnme theposition No.1 in Fig. l. As the machine revolves these operations willbe repeated at every revolution ot' the wheel B and thc platform becleaned at regular intervals ofthe cut grain.

The advantages of this self-rake are brieli y these: It can be appliedto any reaping-machine nowl in use, a curved platform not beingnecessary. It can be put on and kept in repair by any tax-mer.Troublesome and expensive cogwheels are entirely dispensed with. Themotions are all simple, but arbitrary.

Havingdescribed myinvention, whatI claim 1s- The derriclr G, incombination with the pitman c and connecting-rod c, the pitman m andsliding head il', and guide n', the bent lever J, and rake-rods H andH", when such parts are constructed a-nd operated as described and setforth.

J. M. RANDLE. Witnesses:

M. RANDOLPH, A. WAGNER.v

